


Sweet Adeline

by RadiationGroove



Series: Rhodes Scholar [3]
Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-29
Updated: 2016-07-29
Packaged: 2018-07-27 10:33:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7614682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RadiationGroove/pseuds/RadiationGroove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adeline Rhodes conquers the Commonwealth and leaves behind a reputation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sweet Adeline

“Does anybody know why they call her that anyway?”

“Call who what?”

“Hancock’s girl, the Vaultie. People call her ‘Sweet Adeline’ and it's like they're terrified of her. Any idea why?”

“...This a trick, man?” Suspicion crept into the drifters’ voice as he eyed his taller companion. “You settin’ me up for something?”

The curious man snorted into his beer before disappearing behind the bottle. “Nah. I mean, I've seen her; she's a knockout, but she's nothin’ to be scared of...I'm more ‘fraid of Hancock catchin’ me starin’ at her tits.”

The shorter shrugged. “There are stories…”

“Stories? Like what?”

“Hey, Charlie! You wanna tell ‘im about ‘Sweet Adeline?’”

If the cockney Mister Handy could emote properly, he would. His eyestalks shifted, scanned the pair up and down, swiveled in a circle as if rolling his eyes. These morons...like he wasn't busy enough as it was to be telling stories, and especially stories concerning his employers significant other. 

“Lemme see. Vere’s’a toime she broke a Supa’ Mu’an’s ‘and so bad the ugly green brute actually cried...or ve raider gang she took out righ’ stealf-like. None of ‘em knew any o’ve others had vere brains blowed out ‘till it was too late. O’ course vere’s how Mayor ‘Ancock sent her to eliminate Sinjin an’ his crew an’ she did ...by ‘erself.”

The drifters on the other side of the bar stared, mouths agape, fingers curled around their bottles. The robot recounted the occasions like he was rattling off the menu, easy and bored. 

“...You're lyin’ to me, Charlie. I didn't think ‘bullshit’ was part of your programming.”

“Oi! Listen ‘ere,” Charlie snapped, tone pointed, an arm leaning on the bar. He was no liar. Embellisher, maybe. “‘And to Atom, ‘s all true. My personal favorite is ve kidnappin’.”

The taller man’s eyes grew wide, childlike. Forget the Institute; this woman was turning into his own personal boogeyman. Boogeywoman? Either way. “They kidnapped someone? The mayor and his girl?”

Charlie sighed in clear irritation. Entertaining drunks was not his job. “No, you git, they rescued someone from a kidnappin’. Pay attention now...

_Adeline was up for action any given hour of the day, just as Hancock was ready to dispense justice at a moment's notice. When a decent, hardworking Goodneighbor resident came to their mayor for help, pleading for him to return their young daughter from a raider kidnapping, both jumped at the chance, even at midnight. Raiders and kidnapped young women were never a good situation. Rarely did it work out that the girl made it home alive and unscathed._

_“I'm going with you,” Adeline decided before the door shut completely. The information rolled about in her brain, a great storm brewing. A new sort of rage boiled in her stomach; rarely were they kidnaped so young. “She's eleven, a kid, John. The sick fucks snagged a kid.”_

_“I know, Ad, and you should come. I wouldn't have it any other way.” The air was thick, heavy with focus and intent. “Grab your gear. We’re going now.”_

_Beneath a starry Commonwealth sky, their feet pointed Southwest. Hubris Comics was their destination- or rather, an adjacent building. For once the city was quiet, save for the echo of distant gunfire. The Vault Dweller strapped self-made armor to her suit, worn and heavy leather and metal, covering her vital bits from harm. The brunette carried small arms, pistols strapped to her thigh, clips of ammo tucked away in pockets and beneath straps. Hancock followed close behind her, shotgun at the ready, jaw set and dark eyes bright._

_“We’ll sweep the building floor by floor, room by room,” Adeline murmured, voice low and even. She crouched outside the comic shop, eyes fixated on the dimly lit building nearby. “Wait to take anything until we get the girl. We could use the ammo.” The lights stopped three stories up; any higher must have been ruins, collapsed wreckage of steel and stone._

_The building was small enough, and the raiders too stupid to put someone on exterior guard. Gaining entrance wasn’t difficult at all; Hancock closed the door with the quietest click behind them. Adeline clutched Deliverer, the suppressed ten-millimeter her best choice to keep a low profile. Eliminating the crew of drunken raiders on the lower floors without raising any suspicions was almost too easy. The few on the lower floor were dispatched with near-inaudible gunshots, one or two smothered beneath pillows or Jangles the Moon Monkey as they slept on the second. A single watchman nearly called an alarm; Hancock wrapped a scrap of wire around his throat and pulled, a makeshift garrote and the wet crunch of his windpipe. Adeline slit another's throat with Hancock’s knife halfway up the stairs._

_As they crested the third floor landing, they encountered their first closed, locked door. Behind it, the rustle of fabric and metal; a belt or harness maybe, dropped carelessly to the ground? Adeline itched to move. Her fingers flexed, shifted around her grip. Crouched at her side Hancock did the same with a roll of his shoulders; they were ready._

_Muffled whimpers, a soft female sound underneath a male chuckle. The girl whined, then grew quiet. Glass against wood; a syringe on a table? More fabric, the faint sound of half-hearted resistance. Adeline’s stomach churned; now or never._

_The sole of Hancock’s boot met the door, wood cracking and splintering off the hinges._

_Pure rage bubbled up in Adeline’s chest from the very bottom of her boots. The kidnapped girl lay sprawled on a filthy mattress, beaten and broken, covered head to toe in bruises and cuts and little else. Three men, all easily twice the girl's height and weight, all in varied states of undress. In a corner, a table, scratched and marred wood, a series of syringes, Med-X most likely, and Jet inhalers laid out._

_A flurry of movement, the sound of guns being drawn. Adeline fired first, catching one raider in the shoulder once, then twice in the head. He crumpled, pants about his ankles, useless._

_A second raider was on her, and fast, catching Adeline across the face with a broken kitchen knife. It was shallow, but the force was enough to send her staggering. It was Hancock to her rescue, the ghoul twisting the offending arm into a knot. A bone snapped and the raiders own blade slid across his throat before he had the chance to scream._

_“John. Her. Now.” Fair hands secured around Hancocks’ shotgun in trade, the ghoul nodding in understanding. He stepped over a downed man, a minor inconvenience to his purpose, and wrapped the girl’s frail, naked form in his frock coat. The remaining raider lunged, aiming for a limp arm or a dirty fistful of her hair. Adeline caught him in the face with the stock, knocking the raider on his ass._

_“You motherless sack of shit!” She seethed, toe of her boot landing solid kicks over and over into the raiders gut. The downed man flinched, coherent enough to attempt to fend off the blows. “She's a fucking child you sick bastards!”_

_“Ad...quit toyin’ with him and let's get the poor kid home, Sunshine.” Hancock shifted, hefting the groggy girl into his arms. Even in her chem-induced haze she seemed to know she was safe and remained still against the ghouls’ chest._

_She ignored Hancock, rolling her prey onto his back. It was rather cat and mouse, Adeline mused, allowing him to sit up and cough up a handful of blood, to catch his breath._

_The raider grinned up at Adeline with a red mouth, full of blood and broken teeth. One eye was already starting to swell shut over the burst blood vessels, and his nose was broken in at least one place. The pain hardly registered under all the chems, and the self-satisfied smirk made Adeline’s stomach turn._

_“That's a good word for it. ‘Toyin’.’ Like we ‘toyed’ with the pretty little Goodneighbor bitch. She sounded so nice when she cried...for a while. Then her mouth was...well, occupi-”_

_A single fluid movement had the shotgun flush against the raider’s crotch. She sneered, a flash of too-white pre-war teeth. “Keep talking. I dare you.”_

_“Ad-”_

_“No, I want him to keep fucking talking.” Pressure, the double barrels firm against the raider. Her finger twitched at the trigger._

_“She wants to hear, Mister Mayor! She wants to hear all about how she hasn't slept in the last three days…’bout how me and the boys went through vials and vials of Med-X to keep her easy. Oh, but she struggled at first...nearly scratched out some eyes.” The raider was all too pleased with himself, despite Adeline's lack of noticeable reaction. Hancock could see it; a shift in the set of her jaw, the slightest pulse of vein at her temple. “Untouched...so perfect at that age…Cried for her mommy and da-”_

_Two shots and the raider howled in pain, blood soaking, gushing through the front of his pants. Calmly, eerily so Hancock decided, Adeline rested the shotgun over the crook of her arm while she reloaded. She stood there a moment, contemplating the writhing man on the ground, green eyes lit with fire. Two more into his skull, brains splattered on the concrete floor._

_Soft fingers carded through the drugged girls’ hair accompanying an even softer voice. “C’mon sweetpea. Let's get you home…”_

And sos vey brough’er back. Jus’ like vat. And vat is why she's called ‘Sweet Adeline.’”

“You singin’ my praises again, Charlie?” Adeline grinned, voice syrup-y sweet. “You flatterer, you.”

The drifters seated at the bar paled upon sight of the woman on Hancock’s arm and her too-white teeth. There was a moment where both men shifted uncomfortably on their stools, fearing for their valuable bits and pieces. 

“Mayor ‘Ancock, Miss Adeline. What can I gets ya? On ve ‘ouse, o’course.”

Adeline smiled graciously, taking her seat across from the barkeep and waving to Magnolia on her stage. “Beer, please, Charlie. Thank you.”

The robot busied himself with her request, leaving the Mayor and his softskin Vaultie in stunned company. From this distance the drifters could see the faint scar across her cheek, a remnant of their heroic rescue. They stared wide-eyed in non-subtlety. From her periphery, behind her glasses, green eyes studied the pair. A careful eyebrow raised, any semblance of a smile fading from full lips. The drifters gaping mouths shut, gazes diverted.

“Hey, uh, Charlie? We’re gonna settle up and, uh...get goin’.” 

Caps clinked delicately on the bar, rattling against the empty glasses. The pair made a less-than-graceful exit; one stumbled over his own feet while the other backed away from the Vault Dweller. 

“Charlie...what did you tell them?” Adeline smirked, bringing her surprisingly cold bottle to her lips. 

“Nuffin spectacular, Miss. Jus’ stories o’ yer ‘eroics.” If Charlie could, Ad was sure he'd be grinning.


End file.
